‘YouVersion’ Getting As Big As ‘Instagram’

With new technology, now it can. Bobby Gruenewald’s “Bible” app by YouVersion focuses on engagement with reminders, daily verses, and holiday notifications, In an interview with The Huffington Post, Gruenewald referred to the interactions as “a real simple nudge” to help people on their faith journey.

Ramped-up engagement wasn’t part of the original plan. “We were afraid people would uninstall the app,” Gruenewald admits in an interview with The Atlantic, referring to the first time he and his team sent out an unsolicited “Merry Christmas” message. However, their worries proved unfounded, as people shared the good wishes with their social networks. They felt like “God was reaching out to them,” Gruenewald explained.

The plan worked, with the Bible app reaching a milestone on July 8, hitting a staggering 100 million downloads, which puts it in the ranks of big players like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. The pastor initially hoped for 80,000 downloads in the first six months, but the app surpassed that number the very first weekend the app was released.

Its continued popularity is impressive, especially given that “Bible” was among the first 200 apps on iTunes and the number now is over 900,000. Though Gruenewald is not sure of the exact adoption numbers of the app amongst his own evangelical faith community, he says confidently that the majority of smartphone-users have the app.